The subject of this patent application relates generally to self-balancing vehicles, and more particularly to a self-balancing personal vehicle with a suspended harness assembly configured for allowing a user to be suspended therewithin and operate the vehicle through selectively shifting the user's weight.
Applicant hereby incorporates herein by reference any and all patents and published patent applications cited or referred to in this application.
By way of background, self-balancing personal vehicles typically provide one or more wheels, at least one drive motor, and a stable platform on which a user may stand or sit. These vehicles also typically utilize gyroscopic sensors and accelerometer-based leveling sensors to detect changes in pitch angle such that, in order to maintain balance, the vehicles automatically drive their wheels forward or backward as needed to return their pitch to upright. Accordingly, the user is able to command such a self-balancing vehicle to travel forward and/or backward by shifting their weight forward and/or backward on the vehicle's platform. Based on this functionality, known self-balancing personal vehicles require that the user either stand or sit on the provided stable platform in order to properly control the vehicle. Thus, these known prior art vehicles are unable to provide the user with a feeling of flying above the ground (such as the feeling experienced during hang gliding, for example), given that the user rolls directly across the ground while in a seat or on a platform that is rigidly attached to such prior art vehicles.
Aspects of the present invention fulfill these needs and provide further related advantages as described in the following summary.